India vs South Africa: Rohit Sharma backs Prasidh Krishna's 'ability to succeed' in Test cricket

India skipper Rohit Sharma came to Prasidh Krishna’s support ahead of the second Test against South Africa in Cape Town, saying the under-fire pacer has the “ability to succeed” in the most elite form of the sport. While Prasidh dismissed South Africa batter Kyle Verrynne on Test debut at Centurion’s SuperSport Park, he ended up conceding 93 runs at over four-an-over. Read | You need to be more creative, Allan Donald tells Indian pacers “I know we have a little bit of inexperience in bowling and when that happens, you got to show trust in them. That can happen with any team. Post last match, I said about Prasidh playing his first game. We all get nervous when you are playing your first game. It’s understandable. “But I’ll still back that thought of mine, that he’s got good ability to succeed at this level and especially in this format. So it’s just about showing faith and trust in everyone and getting the job done from them,” Rohit told reporters in Cape Town on the eve of the second Test. Both the Karnataka pacer and all-rounder Shardul Thakur (1/105) proved expensive as the Proteas, led by Dean Elgar’s magnificent 185, recovered from a shaky start to post 408 on the board. They would eventually go 1-0 in the series with an innings and 32-run victory, and will be eyeing a 2-0 sweep heading into the final match of India’s tour that gets underway at the Newlands on Wednesday. IND vs SA: Revisiting Team India’s record at Cape Town’s Newlands Rohit was initially asked about the team combination for the Cape Town Test and whether the visitors were likely to play pacer Mukesh Kumar in place of Prasidh. The captain, however, remained coy on the topic and said they were yet to finalise their XI. “We had brief chat with management as to what we want from this game from bowlers, we haven’t exactly finalized our eleven, all our players are fit and available. We will sit down and decide,” Rohit added. The India skipper also backed Shubman Gill to continue batting at the No 3 spot in the Test side despite having originally started as Rohit’s batting partner. Gill had to shift down to the position that had previously been occupied by veteran batter Cheteshwar Pujara to accommodate Yashasvi Jaiswal at the top of the order. “Shubman Gill prefers to bat at No. 3 and he feels he can do well for us batting at that position. I personally hated batting at No 3,” Rohit, who himself is under pressure after scoring 5 and 0 at Centurion, added. Read | Kohli simulates countering Burger, Iyer faces short ball barrage ahead of 2nd Test Gill, who began batting at one-down during the tour of the Caribbean last July, was dismissed cheaply in the first innings at the SuperSport Park, departing for 2. The 23-year-old, however, looked a lot more positive in the second innings in which he was one of the two batters alongside Virat Kohli (76) to enter double figures with a knock of 26. [caption id=“attachment_13560572” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Shubman Gill was dismissed for scores of 2 and 26 in the first Test against South Africa. AP[/caption] Like Gill, opener Jaiswal and middle-order batter Shreyas Iyer too got off to starts in either innings but weren’t able to convert them into bigger scores the way KL Rahul (101) and Kohli did. Rohit, however, felt they weren’t too familiar with South African conditions and would be a lot better equipped in the subsequent fixtures. “These three guys (Gill, Jaiswal and Iyer) haven’t played a lot in South Africa but been part of the team for number of years. When you perform against a team like Proteas, it gives you tremendous confidence,” the ‘Hitman’ added. As for the Newlands wicket on which the two sides will lock horns one last time in the ongoing tour, Rohit felt it “looks quite similar to Centurion”. “Pitch looks similar to what we had in Centurion. May be not so much grass (on Supersport Park track) but enough covering of grass but overhead conditions will matter as it is very hot compared to Centurion. “In 2021, I wasn’t here (because of injury) but guys who were here, told me it was similar conditions, we know exactly what needs to be done. Based on how pitch is, we got to respond to that.” With their chances of conquering the ‘Final Frontier’ all but over after their innings defeat in Centurion, Team India will aim to end their tour of the ‘Rainbow Nation’ with a victory. Should the visitors end up on the winning side at Newlands, Rohit will become only the second Indian captain after MS Dhoni to share the honours in an away Test series against South Africa.